Last night I finally got in for my first prenatal visit with baby #4. It was much later than I was seen with any of the other kids which made me much more anxious the past few weeks (which probably didn’t help with the morning sickness).
I originally thought I would go back to my nurse-midwife for prenatal care who I saw when I was pregnant with the girls, just for ease of insurance (we had a hell of a time getting reimbursed for Doodle’s homebirth). But when I called at 5 weeks they informed me they don’t see new pregnancies until 8 weeks because they can “see” more at that time. Which made me kind of upset…a lot can happen in 8 weeks and do they do routine ultrasounds at the first appointment to “date” the pregnancy (which I’m not really okay with)? I explained I was having some severe sharp pain on the right side and the receptionist put my on hold only to return and inform me they could see me on an “emergency” visit two weeks later.
At the time I was concerned about a possible ectopic pregnancy (a big fear I’ve always had) and if that had been the case, I would have ruptured by 7 weeks. The practice has also stopped allowing children over 3 months in the office since Sugarplum was born and while I understand the general rule, I want my kids there for the ultrasound.
The pain subsided so I rescheduled my initial appointment with my nurse-midwife instead of the doctor they had scheduled the emergency visit with. But as much as I have always adored my midwife, the whole situation put a bad taste in my mouth as I stressed for another few weeks about everything. I didn’t feel like my baby and I were a priority to the practice.
I finally decided to reach out to my licensed midwife who delivered Doodle for another recommendation and explained our insurance issue (she was there with us through the struggle last time!) and she surprised me by saying she could take my insurance this time! So after discussing with hubby and doing our own research and double checking on our insurance, I scheduled with my homebirth midwife and anxiously waited until last night, 11 weeks and a bit.
We did the usual initial paperwork (full medical, maternity and lifestyle history), blood work, urine check, blood pressure (low, as usual…90 something/60 something). Everything looked good and despite my “risk” assessment being a 2 this time versus the 0 I had with Doodle (thank you to my nasty little placenta and “oversized” newborn Doodle), I’m still low enough risk to go forward on the homebirth plan without needing an OB consult.
I knew going into the appointment that we might not be able to hear the baby’s heartbeat (fetal heartbeat isn’t expected by doppler until 12 weeks). And add-on my retroverted uterus (which tips back towards my spine instead of forward, usually until midway through my pregnancies) and I was optimistic but ready for disappointment. But I have an awesome midwife and with a lot of persistence she was able to locate it. Which I needed, I needed the reassurance that everything is fine with the baby after all the weeks of wondering and stressing on my own.
Now we just wait until the 18 week anatomy ultrasound to see if my placenta is playing nice this time (unless I have another unexpected bleed first like I did with Doodle…)
(Sugarplum hearing Doodle’s heartbeat for the first time)
